Pick a Peck
by clayfish32
Summary: Sara gets a letter from Grissom. Sort of follows Wish you Were Here, but could be a stand-alone. Your choice.


Disclaimer: Yes, I own them, in my DREAMS. Ok, no I don't own anything--except the poem--because I wrote it.

A/N: Reviews are nice. Please??

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**Pick a Peck**

He stared at the blank postcard for an hour before deciding it was too small.

Laying it aside he grabbed a few sheets of blank paper and poised his hand to write.

After another ten minutes of staring, pen hit paper as his thoughts began to flow..

She smiled when she saw the colorful postcard emblazoned with "We'll see you in Texas!" taped to a large envelope. Flipping it over she saw "Nick says hi" hastily written in his familiar scrawl.

Ripping it open, but careful of the postcard, she pulled out the paper and began to read…

_Your touch, my darling,_

_Is like balm to my soul._

_Your fingers entwined in mine,_

_All I need to console—_

_This bleeding heart—this shell of a man_

_Beloved, I smile,_

_For I know whose I am._

_And in the wee hours when I dare to dream_

_My thoughts solely on your,_

_If you know what I mean…_

_Of your kiss on my lips, your lingering breath_

_My heart beats once more,_

_For to me, that is bliss._

My darling Sara,

I cannot tell you how enthralled I was to receive your postcard. I am thrilled to hear that you are making progress. The closer you are to burying your ghosts, the closer you are to returning home-to me. That is what I live for.

I've been doing some research lately, surprising I know. This was of personal interest, and I want to share it with you. It concerns a cultural behavior that, as of late, I have become quite fond of. It is the kiss. Here is what I have learned:

Anthropologists have not reached a consensus as to whether kissing is a learned or an instinctive behavior.

In modern Western culture, kissing is most commonly an expression of affection.

In Eastern European countries till recent times, kissing between two men on the lips as a greeting or a farewell was as normal as the modern Western handshake. This custom has nearly died out due to Western influence.

Historically, kissing has also been of quite some importance.

At the Diocleia festival at Megara in honour of Diocles, lover of Philolaus, a kissing contest was held in which boys would kiss a male judge, who awarded a laurel wreath to the boy he deemed the best kisser.

The Romans distinguished three types of kiss: osculum, a friendship kiss on the cheek; basium, a kiss of affection on the lips; and suavium (also known as savium), a lovers' deep kiss.

Lord Nelson, British naval commander, famously requested "Kiss me, Hardy", as he lay dying (although they were not, as often reported, his last words).

In religion kissing is quite common:

Muslims may kiss the Black Stone during Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

In the gospels of Matthew and Mark (Luke and John omit this) Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss—an incongruous instance of a kiss intertwined with betrayal.

The pope will kiss the ground on arrival to a new country.

Visitors to the pope traditionally kiss his foot.

Jews will kiss the Western wall of the temple in Jerusalem, and other religious articles during prayer.

Eastern Orthodox Christians often kiss the icons around the church as entering, they will also kiss the cross and / or the priests hand in certain other customs in the Church, such as confession or receiving a blessing.

Catholics will kiss rosary beads as a part of prayer, or kiss their hand after making the sign of the cross.

Hindus sometimes kiss the ground of a temple.

In folklore kissing is oft the way the maiden is saved.

Both the fairytales "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White", and the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, a romantic kiss is used by a male to awaken or breathe life into a female.

In modern American versions of the fairytale "Frog Prince", it is the male who is transformed into the prince from the frog kissed by the beautiful female princess.

In film the kiss has become so prevalent it almost isn't worth mentioning, but I will.

_The Kiss_, an 1896 short film, features the first known screen kiss, a forty-seven second recreation of a stage kiss from the musical The Widow Jones. The movie was considered scandalous at the time of its release but has since entered film history as one of the most memorable early films.

_The Kid_ is a 1921 film, in which a tramp, Charlie Chaplin, kisses a child, Jackie Coogan. This scene is the first in film history in which a man kisses a boy on the mouth.

Chaplin also employed the "insulting kiss" in at least one film, a device that Bugs Bunny would later copy, countless times, to distract Elmer Fudd and other threatening characters.

In the 1955 film _Lady and the Tramp_, the canine characters Lady and Tramp unexpectedly kiss while simultaneously eating a spaghetti noodle from opposite ends, their lips meeting in the middle. Homages to and parodies of this scene have appeared in several movies.

In _The Princess Bride_, the narrator comments on Westley and Buttercup's kiss: "Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind."

In _The Godfather: Part II_, Michael Corleone gives, in Havana, an unnaturally aggressive kiss on the mouth to his brother Fredo, effectively telling him that he is disowned from the family because he betrayed its interests. Michael has Fredo killed. This kiss has been called by mafia movie fans as "the kiss of death".

There are even world records about kisses.

The longest recorded kiss took place in New York City on December 5, 2001, between Louisa Almedovar and Rich Langley. It lasted 30 hours, 59 minutes and 27 seconds.

On September 1, 2007, 6980 couples kissed for 10 seconds in Tuzla, Bosnia erasing the previous Guinness World kissing Records of the Philippines and Hungary (for synchronized osculation in 2004 with 5327 Filipino couples, overtaken by Hungary in 2005 with 5875 couples; Filipinos came back in February this year with 6124 couples but the Hungarians responded in June with 6613 couples). The record now awaits official certification.

The Kiss is a character known by many aliases:

Kiss of death- also known as Judas' Kiss

Butterfly kisses

Smooch

Peck

Desperate kiss

Chaste kiss

Tonsil hockey

Mouth to mouth

X (In written correspondence a kiss has been represented by the letter 'X' since at least 1763.11)

Smacker

Sugar ("give me some sugar")

Make-out

Neck

Buss

Pucker-up

'blow a kiss'

Air kiss

Cheek kissing

Eskimo kiss- The act known as Eskimo kissing in modern western culture is loosely based on a traditional Inuit greeting called a kunik.

French kiss

Pash

Snog

deep kiss

Hand-kissing

Holy kiss- The holy kiss is a traditional Christian greeting. The term comes from the New Testament, where it appears five times.

according to the Urban Dictionary "mwah" is defined as:

The sound of air kissing (to air kiss both cheeks is "mwah mwah")

The sound of a quick kiss when voice is also used.

The sound made when pecking someone on the lips.

The word said when kissing someone quickly on either the lips or the cheek, or anywhere else for that matter.

Said over online chatrooms, emails, text messages, phonecalls, etc to symbolise a kiss.

So, after reviewing the various degrees and types of kisses there are, which is my favorite?

It doesn't really matter as long as it's with _**you**_.

All my love, to my love,

Gil

xxxx

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A/N: seriously...pretty please?


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